Daniel Lemire's blog

Hard problems and hot coffee

, 1 min read

I recently realized that I suffer from the hard problem, hot coffee syndrome. What is it? Well, when I have a hard problem to solve on my to do list, and if this problem has become a priority, I will start procrastinating. So far, that’s not uncommon. But then, because I try to muster enough…

The Google Browser?

, 1 min read

Through Harold, I found this quote by Seth Godin regarding the recent events (Google hired a key Firefox developer): Running a successful open source effort is a great idea. I can’t think of an individual who has invested the time and not had a great personal outcome as well. Google…

gnuplot tips (not so Frequently Asked Questions)

, 1 min read

Some Web site dies, another becomes a classic. If you ever have to use gnuplot, the classical scientific plotting tool, then the gnuplot tips (not so Frequently Asked Questions) page is really a must. It has also improved recently. If you use gnuplot and have never seen this page, go now!

JAWS Screenreader Adaptation for Mozilla Firefox

, 1 min read

From Catherine Roy, I learned that there is now a screenreader for Mozilla Firefox. This is an essential tool for visual impaired Web surfers. The adaptation to Firefox is a GPL but JAWS itself is a commercial (Windows-only?) tool. What do visually impaired Linux users do? I know KDE has an…

Implementing a Rating-Based Item-to-Item Recommender System in PHP/SQL

, 1 min read

Following some requests I got about the paper Slope One Predictors for Online Rating-Based Collaborative Filtering, I decided to make available a technical report which actually gives some SQL and PHP code: Implementing a Rating-Based Item-to-Item Recommender System in PHP/SQL.

Useful JavaScript documentation

, 1 min read

I can’t find these on my blog anymore, so I’m reposting them. I complained earlier that JavaScript is poorly documented. My friend Scott Flinn gave me some useful links that are hard to come by (Google doesn’t find them quickly for me): If you need DOM documentation for XML (XHTML in…

In the electronic world, less structure is better

, 1 min read

Here’s a quote touching on something very important for me: people tend to try to reproduce structures they know to work in the “real world” into the eWorld. So, they create electronic management systems that are like real management: hierarchical, centralized and rigid. No, no and no! When…

Working upwind

, 1 min read

Paul Graham has another beautiful essay where he gives lifelong advice: Instead of working back from a goal, work forward from promising situations. This is what most successful people actually do anyway. In the graduation-speech approach, you decide where you want to be in twenty years, and then…

Piled Higher and Deeper

, 1 min read

Thanks to geomblog I found out there is such a thing as daily comics about working on a Ph.D. It is pretty funny though I was so among the lucky ones when I wrote my Ph.D.: I was very naïve. What I want to see is a follow-up where the Ph.D. student actually gets a job! I read somewhere last…

Semantic Web Ontologies: What Works and What Doesn´t

, 1 min read

Here’s a beautiful paper on Semantic Web Ontologies. The author makes very well the point that most people have gotten by now: ontologies can only have a very limited appeal outside laboratories. If you can include marriage or terrorist in an ontology, then you can’t really do very much outside…

Michael Nielsen: Optimizing travel

, 1 min read

Michael has some advice for travellers, it is worth checking it out! Make sure you can carry all luggage onboard, especially on long flights. It makes it less likely that you’ll miss connections, you won’t lose your luggage, and you’re not lugging huge quantities of stuff around.